As we watch a new baby grow on the San Diego Zoo’s Panda Cam, we also watch two other kids grow into semi-adult and full-grown females. Su Lin and Zhen Zhen are doing extremely well as the summer hours have come to a close. The weather has cooled down a little bit, the Zoo itself has calmed down, and the girls are definitely relaxing. Taking full advantage of no longer having a full audience for 12 hours a day, they have spent most of their time sleeping and chowing down.
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When keeper Holly brought the panda cub out for his second exam yesterday, I was quite surprised at how big he was! Indeed, he is what we would call “well conditioned!” And with milk on his lips, too! What a cutie!!

At this point, the cub’s eyes and ears are still closed, and this is normal. We expect the eyes and ears to open any time now, most likely before he is about 50 days old. Although we can begin to feel teeth below the gum line, we would not expect to see the teeth until he is 11 to 12 weeks old at the earliest. His lungs sound good, and his heart sounds strong, and he gave us a few vocalizations during the exam. And Mom has been feeding him very well!! Everything looks great!
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Today was our newest panda cub’s second exam. This was my first time holding a panda cub, and he was much bigger than I expected! I carried him out from the den and handed him over to the two vets to examine. The baby gained nearly a pound this week: signs of a very healthy cub.
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There is an enclosure on Big Cat Trail at the San Diego Zoo where you’ll find a pair of large, carnivorous birds. Don’t worry, though! The southern ground hornbills are quite shy and not without a sensitive side, as some bird keepers began to notice earlier this summer.

A few months ago, keepers started to feed the hornbills from a different location. This new feeding location gave us a greater ability to monitor the birds’ health and activities. Initially, the birds—although large and somewhat intimidating in appearance—were too nervous about the change in routine to come and visit their keepers. But as they got used to their new feeding station, we started to see some behavior that we hadn’t seen before!
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Today, September 7, our giant panda matriarch Bai Yun is 18 years old! It’s hard to believe that in September 1996, this beautiful youngster made her debut in San Diego. Between her and adult male Shi Shi, they literally won the hearts of people all over the world! Born in China in 1991 at the Wolong Giant Panda Center, she was Wolong’s first captive-born panda! Her name in Chinese means “white cloud.”
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This morning, around 8, we did our first panda cub exam. Everything went very well! Bai Yun was very calm and ate during the entire exam. It was pretty challenging, trying to crawl into the den and get the cub. Bai had done an extremely good job of threading/weaving bamboo to make a nest! See video!
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Who can keep track of the antics of the most marvelous Su Lin? She has, as visitors have seen over these last few weeks, been in a spurt of activity, at least in panda terms. Once or twice a day sh’e been revving up to have a fine old time, climbing the structures, hanging upside down, racing around the exhibit, grabbing things she shouldn’t, trying to figure out how to get over the back wall, bouncing on branches too close to the fence (so of course, the saws have come out).
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It goes without saying that life at Elephant Odyssey is evolving at a rapid pace! With the addition of Tina and Jewel to our family (see post, New Elephants: Jewel and Tina), our staff is working ‘round the clock to make sure everyone gets the care they need. In the meantime, I know a lot of you are wondering about how the introductions between the four elephants that moved to the San Diego Zoo from the Wild Animal Park and the three that were already here at the Zoo are progressing (see Settling In at Elephant Odyssey), and I can tell you that they are, indeed, moving right along.
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Our feisty sun bear twins Palu and Pagi turned 10 months old on August 25. They have come a long way from their squawking, demanding, den-dwelling days. Now I very rarely hear any vocalizations from the cubs, and they demand little of their mother’s time and attention compared to their early days (see post, Sun Bears: Have It Your Way).
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It’s hard to believe that our baby panda will soon be a month old! Already preparations are taking place for the first cub exam by our Zoo veterinarians. How does one prepare for such an event? Well, it all really depends on mother Bai Yun.
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